Article 17 of the Charter of the United Nations provides that “The General Assembly shall consider and approve the budget of the Organization; that the expenses of the Organization shall be borne by the Members as apportioned by the General Assembly; and that the General Assembly shall consider and approve any financial and budgetary arrangements with specialized agencies referred to in Article 57 and shall examine the administrative budgets of such specialized agencies with a view to making recommendations to the agencies concerned”.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary Questions), as reaffirmed by General Assembly resolution 45/248 B, Sect. VI, is the appropriate Main Committee of the General Assembly entrusted with responsibilities for administration and budgetary matters.

Due to the increased workload of the Fifth Committee during the past years, it has now become the standard practice that the Committee meets, not only during the main part of the General Assembly (September to December) but during resumed sessions, in March and in May of a given year.

During the main part of the session, the Fifth Committee considers issues that require the approval of the General Assembly for funding by the end of the year. The resumed session held in March deals with issues that were not completed during the main part of the session. In accordance with General Assembly resolution 49/233 of 23 December 1994, the Committee considers, at a resumed session in May each year, items relating to the financing of peacekeeping operations. Subject to the urgency of the matter, the Fifth Committee may, at any time, consider the financing of a peacekeeping mission authorized by the Security Council, at any of its sessions.